New Yorker fatally stabs dad during Zoom chat

NEW YORK: A New York suburb was in shock Friday over a gruesome murder that saw a 32-year-old man stab and kill his father, who was attending a Zoom conference that included about 20 participants.

Dwight Powers, 72, was participating in an e-meeting via the Zoom video chat platform at approximately noon on Thursday when his son, Thomas Scully-Powers, emerged and began beating him, police in Long Island’s Suffolk County said.

Several participants in the virtual chat called emergency authorities, police said, as the horrific events unfolded.

After his arrest, ScullyPowers told police he stabbed his father approximately 15 times in the back, neck and torso, switching knives because the blades were bending, according to prosecutors.

The murder took place in the town of Amityville – known in particular for the horror book series bearing its name and related film, which came out in 1979.”

When officers arrived at the scene, Scully-Powers jumped from a second-story window, police said, attempting to flee on foot.

He ran to a nearby deli and allegedly began pouring Dr Pepper soda on himself in a bid to wash off the blood.

Police quickly apprehended him nearby, they said.

They also found evidence at the apartment, which ScullyPowers shared with his father, of apparent attempts to clean the scene, including a mop and bucket in the bathroom along with a blood-soaked bed sheet found in a garbage bag.

Scully-Powers was briefly hospitalized for minor injuries sustained from his leap out the window in Amityville, located approximately 65 kilometres east of Manhattan.

He was released from the hospital on Friday and arraigned on second-degree murder charges, police said.

If convicted, he faces a sentence of 25 years to life in prison. — AFP